The Land of Dreams
by Starflight98
Summary: Princess Twilight Sparkle is sent to a neighboring land with her friends, Spike, Celestia's new student, and a pony Twilight thought she would never see again, under orders to save this land from a mysterious threat. But when the Elements of Harmony fail to work, Twilight wonders if her friends truly see her a friend, and Spike begins to question the girls' loyalty for Twilight.


"GAH!"

Twilight Sparkle burst awake from a nightmare she'd had many times since returning to Equestria from Canterlot High.

Four months had transpired since her coronation as a princess. One month later, she and her friends had gone to The Crystal Empire to attend the Grand Royal Summit. In the middle of the night, a unicorn pony named Sunset Shimmer had stolen her crown, a powerful magical element. Twilight had pursued her through a magical portal in the shape of a full sized mirror. Despite Princess Celestia's orders that Twilight go alone, Spike had panicked, and gone after her. On the other side, Twilight and Spike were able to retrieve her crown and return three days later.

Twilight was an alicorn. A pony with the wings of a pegasus and the horn of a unicorn, giving her the ability to fly and use magic. Originally, Twilight had been a unicorn, with only the ability to use magic. It was the night before her coronation that she gained her wings.

Twilight crawled out of bed and opened the curtains. A wall of sunlight poured through the window and temporarily blinded her. Once her eyes adjusted to the light, she looked outside. High overhead, Twilight's friend Rainbow Dash was clearing away the clouds. Her coat was a light cerulean blue and her mane was striated with the colors of the rainbow.

Twilight trotted down the stairs to the library. She had well over one hundred books. Twilight loved to read. She would often take any random book off the shelf and read it without even knowing it.

As Twilight walked to the door, the cast her mind to the plans she and made for the day. She and her friends were supposed to have a picnic this afternoon for lunch, but Twilight thought that the picnic would have to wait for some reason. And whenever Twilight had such a suspicion about something, she was usually right .

First she had to pick up an order of cupcakes from the local bakery, Sugarcube Corner. Then she had to return to the library and organize (and shelf) the pile of new books that had arrived from Canterlot. Third, she needed to get some more writing quills, or should she do that after picking up the cupcakes?

Twilight continued to organize, prioritize, and re-organize her plans, when she spotted her friend Fluttershy trotting towards her. Fluttershy was a pegasus, like Rainbow, but she had a much longer mane and tail. Her coat was a light pale yellow and her mane and tail were light pink.

"Good morning, Twilight," Fluttershy said as she drew near.

"Is it" Twilight thought. "Good morning."

"... W-where are you of to this morning?"

"I'm off to the bakery," Twilight asked. "Wanna come?"

Fluttershy was slow to respond. "Oh, uh, o-okay…"

Twilight shrugged. "I just hope Mrs Cake didn't add an extra cupcake this time."

"What makes you say that?" Fluttershy inquired. "...No, never mind."

Twilight hurried on to Sugarcube Corner. The bakery looked like a life sized gingerbread house, decorated with various sweets. The roof especially was covered with fake frosting while peppermints dotted the outside walls. Inside, Twilight found Mrs. Cake. Mrs. Cake and her husband, Mr. Cake, ran the bakery, while Twilight's friend, Pinkie Pie, sat for their foals, Pound Cake, a pegasus, and Pumpkin Cake, a unicorn.

"Good morning, dearie," Mrs. Cake greeted Twilight. "I have your cupcake order ready, and I only put twelve in the box."

"Oh, thank you," Twilight replied, her mood improving.

"HELLOOOOOO Twilight!" Pinkie's voice called from upstairs. The bright pink pony came sliding down the banister (backwards, perfectly balanced), with her pet baby alligator, Gummy, clinging to her tail. The earth pony backflipped off the bottom of the banister and alit smoothly beside Twilight.

"Good morning Pinkie. Hello, Gummy," Twilight said greeting them, taking a step back.

There was a pause. Gummy's eye twitched.

"Gummy says 'hi'," Pinkie informed Twilight.

Twilight collected her order of cupcakes and trotted outside with Pinkie tagging along.

"So, anything from Princess Celestia, this morning?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"No," Twilight admitted, "But I can't help but think that something will come up today, possibly before noon."

"Hmm, my Pinkie Sense doesn't say anything." Pinkie had the ability to predict strange and spontaneous events in the immediate future.

Suddenly, Pinkie's tail started to twitch. "Twilight! DUCK!"

Twilight dropped to the ground and covered her head with her wings. Pinkie's 'Twitchy Tail' usually signified an object or pony was about to fall. It could be anything from a frog landing on Twilight's face, or Twilight falling into a ditch. (Both had happened, subsequent to being predicted by Pinkie.)

Then, a ball landed on Twilight's back and bounced away. Twilight lifted her head and was promptly soaked. Twilight looked up to see Rainbow Dash rolling around on a cloud, laughing hysterically.

"Ha! You fall for that every time!" Rainbow giggled.

"Now Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy scolded her. Twilight had forgotten she was there. "That wasn't very nice!"

"Yeah, and…?" Rainbow asked.

"And you now owe me a dozen cupcakes," Twilight cut in, checking the cupcakes she had bought, now soggy and water logged."

"Ugh, fine," Rainbow groaned. She flew off towards Sugarcube Corner.

When Twilight got back to the library, she found that all of the new books had been put away, and two boxes of new quills sat on the table.

"I got the quills you needed," Spike informed Twilight. Spike was a baby dragon. He had purple scales and green spines. Spike usually wrote Twilight's letters to Princess Celestia in Canterlot. He was also her personal assistant in the library.

"Oh, uh, thank you." Twilight trotted to the table and levitated the boxes of quills to a shelf and opened one of them. She emptied one box into a cup with another quill already there.

That quill had once been one of the feathers in Rainbow's wing, but had fallen out while she was trying to escape Pinkie on an overnight train to Canterlot. Rainbow detested the idea that Twilight had turned one of her feathers into a writing quill.

The other box, Twilight put in a cabinet upstairs.

As Twilight came back downstairs Rainbow entered to deliver the replacement cupcakes. A second later, she was gone.

Twilight put the cupcakes near the door, but when she turned to walk away, the door opened, and Rarity entered.

"Good morning, Twi- why are you soaking wet?"

"I am soaking wet because of a certain high-speed pegasus," Twilight grumbled, wringing out her wings, still damp.

"Good morning, Most Beautiful one!" Spike said, his face turning pink. Twilight stifled a giggle.

"Hello, Spike." Rarity lifted the baby dragon and squeezy-hugged him "Oh, you are just so squishy and huggable!"

"What can I help you with, Rarity?" Twilight inquired.

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to say 'good morning'," Rarity admitted.

Rarity left. But a few seconds later, Twilight heard Rarity screaming.

"Mud! I stepped in MUD! Filthy disgusting mud! It stings! It burns! What a crime against fabulosity! HELP!"

"I'm coming, Rarity!" Spike called as he dashed out of the library. Twilight giggled not bothering to cover it.

* * *

Twilight headed for Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville's local apple orchard. Applejack lived there with her family. Twilight had promised Applejack the previous day that she would help with some apple picking. But now, the orange-coated pony was nowhere to be seen.

Twilight stopped." Applejack is ALWAYS outside working. Where could she be?" she wondered. Her curiosity getting aroused, Twilight approached the barn as silently as she could.

As she got closer, she began hearing suspicious noises from within. Twilight paused, wondering what exactly was happening in there. Using her magic to amplify her hearing, all she heard were rough pants, begging whimpers, and the tumbling of bodies. Putting two and two together, Twilight blushed heavily. She paused, shook her head furiously, and erased all emotion from her face. Blush gone, she again started to approach the barn.

When she arrived at the barn door, she tried her best to appear innocent as she knocked. After a considerable pause (and a few seconds of hay rustling in the background), Applejack answered, face flush, hair out of place, and her hat sitting on her head at a weird angle, as if it had been thrown on.

Panting and trying to catch her breath, she answered the alicorn. "Hiya Twi. [pant] What can I do ya for?"

Close to laughter at this point, Twilight responded "Oh nothing much. I came to help you with those apples, but if you and Rainbow are busy..."

"What?! How did you know that?!" Rainbow demanded as she burst out of nowhere.

Applejack turned as red as her prized apples and facehoofed at her counterparts actions.

"It wasn't all that hard to venture an accurate guess, I mean come on. You, Dash, occasionally in AJ's hat? And you, Applejack, always following Rainbow around like a puppy dog...?"

"You heard us didn't you," This time Rainbow Dash's face flushed and backed behind the barn door, barely peeking out, which Twilight found somewhat cute.

"Yes I did," Twilight stated. "That and AJ's hair's a mess, her hat is falling off, she's got hay stuck in her mane, and a couple blue feathers stuck in her coat."

Applejack looked herself over and appeared embarrassed.

Twilight was trying to contain her giggles. "Sorry, did I over do it?" she asked.

"Yes," Rainbow and AJ replied.

"Oh, my bad" Twilight giggled.

"Don't you dare tell nopony 'bout none of this," Applejack threatened.

"Hmm, threatening a princess," Twilight mused. "Is that wise? Don't worry, AJ. I won't tell anypony. I'll just come back tomorrow. See you two love ponies at the picnic, alright?"

Then Twilight flew away, albeit unevenly, still giggling.


End file.
